Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Buried amid the generally gloomy news last week was a development that is a true cause for celebration. By July, the Twinkie, and other favorite Hostess brands will return to store shelves. Two investment companies bought assets of the bankrupt snack company and plan to re-open four plants and hire 1,500 workers in the coming weeks. Labor unions, however, will not be invited back.

Hostess Brands, the venerable 86-year maker of Twinkies, Zingers, Ho-Hos and other popular snack cakes closed its doors last November. The company had said it needed wage and benefit concessions from its largely unionized workforce in order to survive. The Teamsters, the union representing the largest number of Hostess workers, agreed to the concessions and urged other unions to join them. A little known union, the Bakers and Confectioners workers, however, refused to accept the modest compensation cuts. As a result, the company shuttered its doors, throwing all of its workers into the unemployment line.

The chief executive of the new Hostess Brands has said the new owners will pump $60 million in new capital investments into the company. Without labor bosses demanding uncompetitive wages and benefits, the company has a good chance to survive.

Monday, April 29, 2013

It's time for public employee unions to wake up and take a look around. Government services are shrinking, cities are crumbling, and they're enjoying pay and benefit packages that many in the private sector would kill for. They need to give a little back. Yeah, I know, some of them already have. But it's time for a little more.

On healthcare contributions. On raises. On pensions. On retirement ages.

Why?

Because up and down the state of California, and beyond, public officials foolishly negotiated contracts they can't pay for without taking a cleaver to basic services, including police and fire protection, park maintenance, street repair. It's not just the fault of those contracts. There's also the economic dip and the housing crash, which put a squeeze on revenue. But that perfect storm has led to big trouble in San Jose and Stockton and Fresno and San Diego.

On April 20, 2012, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn said of the state's pension sinkhole at a press conference, "But I’m here to solve it. I know that I was put on earth to get this done."

Since that Moses-like proclamation, nothing, I repeat, nothing has been accomplished by the Chicago Democrat or the Democratic-controlled General Assembly to fix Illinois' public employee pension system which is now underfunded by nearly $100 billion. The Prairie State is still wandering in the desert and hemorrhaging cash.

Illinois pension shortfall grows by $17 millions each day. Clearly Quinn is wrong about himself. Illinois voters can drive that point home next year at the voting booth.

Hold on, I stand corrected. Quinn's office introduced a cartoon character, Squeezy the Python, to set things straight on pensions.

Friday, April 26, 2013

Originally manufactured by Fiat, then Bertone, the X/19 was dubbed the "mini-Ferrari" when is was first produced in 1972. This rear-wheel drive sportscar beauty was known for its superb handling and its detachable hardtop.

Clare Boothe Luce liked to say that “a great man is one sentence.” Presidents, in particular. The most common “one sentence” for George W. Bush is: “He kept us safe.”

Not quite right. With Bush’s legacy being reassessed as his presidential library opens in Dallas, it’s important to note that he did not just keep us safe. He created the entire anti-terror infrastructure that continues to keep us safe.

That homage was paid, wordlessly, by Barack Obama, who vilified Bush’s anti-terror policies as a candidate, then continued them as president: indefinite detention, rendition, warrantless wiretaps, special forces and drone warfare, and, most notoriously, Guantanamo, which Obama so ostentatiously denounced — until he found it indispensable.

Quite a list. Which is why there was not one successful terror bombing on U.S. soil from 9/11 until last week. The Boston Marathon attack was an obvious security failure, but there is a difference between 3,000 dead and three. And on the other side of the ledger are the innumerable plots broken up since 9/11.

The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court today to reverse a lower court decision that held that the President violated the Constitution when he made recess appointments last year to the National Labor Relations Board, an independent agency that enforces employee and employer rights under the National Labor Relations Act. The NLRB consists of five members appointed by the President.

The Recess Appointments Clause of the Constitution permits the President to make temporary appointments, without Senate approval, during times when the Senate is not in session.

But in January, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia held that the President's appointment of three members to the NLRB was "an unconstitutional act" because it took place when the Senate was in an “intrasession” recess (a recess within a session of congress), rather than an "intersession" recess (occurring between sessions of Congress).

The court held that the President could only fill those vacancies that arose during the intercession recess in which the appointment was made.

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